Metronome Online (Free metronome for use with any online device, no membership or joining required)

A metronome is an essential piece of equipment.  It serves as a mini music-conductor, letting us hear a specific, consistent tempo.  We can use it to go through a section slowly to practice the technique, faster to “finish” a piece at goal tempo, with our rhythm flashcards, to track progress through a song, and many other occasions.  There are many free apps.  The specific type of metronome does not matter as long as it is convenient for your student to access, and they know how to adjust the settings independently.  When it is used, they reap the benefits.

Tips

Tools

Experiment with different practice times of day and determine which works best for your student --- then lock in that daily practice time on your family calendar.  Abilities and confidence both grow with consistent, accurate practice.

 To be a good musician, practice is vital; we all know that, so please help your student plan for a minimum commitment of 150 minutes each week.  That could be structured as 30 minutes, 5 days a week; 25 minutes, 6 days a week; or even 20 focused minutes every day.  Consistency is the key.  Hopefully students practice where their music can be heard, enjoyed, and affirmed by others in the family.   Assuring that practice occurs on the day of lessons or the first day following, will help new materials be more easily remembered and understood, and theory work most accurately completed.

The more times our brain correctly encounters an idea within a short span of time, the more familiar the concept becomes, the more solid our understanding, and the more reliable our efforts to create a desired outcome.  This is learning, and illustrates why practice should be daily.  Some individuals will focus and practice best before school, others immediately after school, and others not until evening.

NoteWorks App

This fun game for Apple and Android devices helps students recognize notes on the staff and name them on treble clef and bass clef.  For piano students we can also place them on the piano keyboard within the game.  For violinists we take that next step on our own, evaluating where they live on our instrument.  Level one begins with only five notes to identify, and no sharps or flats.  The game then advances though 21 levels to include all notes, scale keys, and clefs.